CFP: "Queer Perspectives on the Eighteenth-Century Family" at the AnnualConference of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, March26-29, 2009 in Richmond, VirginiaPanel organized by the Gay and Lesbian Caucus.

Against the â€œnaturalâ€ norm of a nuclear, bourgeois family headed by afather, the last forty years have seen a profound re-evaluation of whatconstitutes a family. Without a doubt, the foundation for this norm waslaid in the eighteenth century in Europe and North America. But in showinghow the development of this norm was highly contested and founded inconcepts that today seem socially unacceptable and alienating, seminalworks dealing with eighteenth century families â€" including works byLawrence Stone, Niklas Luhmann, Carol Pateman, James Traer, Isabel Hull,and Nancy Cott to name only a few â€" make clear just how problematic andchallenging this genealogy can be. We call for papers exploring a queerperspective on this body of work. Specifically, we invite papers examininghow this "norm" of the heterosexual nuclear family was informed by what wenow call queer perspectives on the family. This could encompass researchinto eighteenth-century institutions of family and marriage, kinshipstructures, sexual practices and behaviors, and ideals or practices ofintimacy and friendship. How do prohibitions on sodomy, masturbation,prostitution and pornography help define sexual morality and itsconfinement within marriage? How do queer identities such as mollies inEngland inform changing notions about gender identity, both socially andbiologically? To what extent do extra-familial discourses of friendship,fraternity, sisterhood, or feminism provide the foundation for new idealsof familial intimacy, both between spouses as well as between parents andchildren? How do queer relationships challenge notions of the family asthe most "natural" unit of society, be it in Christian traditions ofnatural law or as the precondition for liberal fictions of a socialcontract? We are particularly interested in papers that attempt tosynthesize the increasingly large body of â€œqueerâ€ work on the eighteenthcentury in light of these questions about the family.

Please send a 300 word abstract, and a CV to both Michael Taylor(mttaylor_at_ucalgary.ca) and Kristi Krumnow (kristi.krumnow_at_usu.edu) byAugust 31, 2008.